January and possibly later in rare cases, to serve or fertilize and the male remaining with the last family till the next breeding season when one of his old mates being an early breeder seeks him out and lures him away till he is in turn lured from her soon after by some other of his previous year's mates or possibly even a younger first breeding season (probably a 2 year old bird) female which would add to the numbers of the families he became the head of. Only a close study of the ratios of ♂ and ♀ in eggs and young during one complete breeding season could definitely establish what actually does take place and whether the apparent position at present is natural or only an exaggerated natural position or merely a phase of nature to re-establish the race. Personally I believe it is the second of these in combination with the third. Certainly the breeding and sex relations of the race at present are most complex and appear very involved and from what I can gather have always shown a certain degree of involvedness. From what owners of cage birds have told me when a female lays eggs in captivity, other females enter the nest hollow and destroy the eggs. If such occurred in the wild state it would account for the absence of infertile eggs, but from my own observations (necessarily somewhat incomplete) and that of natives, who in the old days watched nests from eggs to young, suitable for capture, there appeared to be no signs of other birds entering nesting hollovs. In numbers of cases, natives mentioned that for several days male and female were seen perched about the nest and together but shortly after the ♀ began to brood the ♂ entirely disappeared, or as they said "one bird no more he